South Africa, July 16 -- This is real progress, but it rests on an assumption that deserves more scrutiny.

We seem to believe that because we can influence what leaders decide, we can also influence how the public will understand those decisions.

This is no longer guaranteed.

More access but the boardroom has less control

While communicators have moved closer to power, companies, governments and other organisations have become less able to decide what people believe and when an issue becomes impossible to ignore.

We may have more access to the boardroom, but the boardroom has less control over the conversation happening outside it.

The question is what that access is now meant to achieve.

The value of the communicator cannot lie on...